How to improve your IELTS speaking score: 10 common Idioms

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How to improve your IELTS speaking score: 10 common Idioms

As you probably know, idiomatic vocabulary is key to getting a high score for vocabulary in the IELTS speaking exam . However, many students use idioms wrongly or use idioms that native speakers don't use which will not benefit your score. In this article we will give 10 common idioms with examples of how to use them.

No pain, no gain.

Use this idiom when you want to show that you believe people need to work hard to achieve good things.

For example.

“I went to the gym every day and I was so tired that my body ached all over, but no pain, no gain, so I continued until I gained over 10kg in muscle mass!”.

To wrap your head around something.

Use this very common idiom to describe something that you or someone is trying to understand that is actually very complicated or confusing. Here are two examples:

"I’ve just never been able to wrap my head around Astrophysics, it's just too confusing."

"I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the new rules in my office, but they are so strange."

Under the weather

Use this idiom to describe feeling a little sick or not having much energy. Often if someone is not sick enough to go to the doctors but they don’t feel 100% healthy, they will describe themselves as feeling, “under the weather”. Remember to use idioms like this in different grammatical tenses.

Here are two great examples.

“Jack’s feeling a bit under the weather today, so he won’t be coming to school.”

“I felt a bit under the weather that morning, so I didn’t go to work!”

To live and learn

This means that you learned from your mistakes. When we make a mistake, we usually learn something from it and we can express this by saying the phrase, to live and to learn or even sometimes, to live is to learn. (Depending on the region).

For example.

“I once cheated on an exam and was caught, but to live is to learn, and I learned to never cheat again ever!”

Once in a blue moon.

We use this very very common idiom to describe something we don’t do very often at all, in fact this is used for something we do VERY RARELY.

For example:

“Hmm…well…. I only really go to the gym once in a blue moon so Im definitely not an expert of fitness”

“I mostly eat out at restaurants, but once in a blue moon I like to cook something nice for myself and my partner”

By the skin of one’s teeth.

This idioms is used when we want to describe a situation where we are able to complete an action but only just, which means we nearly fail to complete the action either because we run out of time or because of some other reason. Let’s look at 3 examples for this difficult to understand idiom.

“I didn’t have much time to revise for my English exam, so a couple of days before, I tried to read as much English as I could. I passed the exam by the skin of my teeth with 52 marks out of 80. If I had gotten under 50, I would have failed!”

“My brother and I had a race to see who could run to the end of our street the fastest. I won but only by the skin of my teeth. I can’t believe my brother is 5 years younger than me but he is nearly as fast as I am!”

“The criminal escaped police by the skin of his teeth, they nearly caught him, but he was just a little bit too fast for them!”

Hit the hay/hit the sack

This idiom is used to mean “go to bed”. Usually after a hard day’s work or something that drains your energy. It can also be used in questions.

For two examples, see below.

“What time are you gonna hit the hay?”

“I think I’m gonna hit the sack soon as I’m feeling super knackered (tired)”.

To go on a wild goose chase

This is used when you are looking for something in many places. It comes from the idea that if you have to run around and try to catch a wild goose (like a duck) in your hand, its very very difficult! You will often think you have nearly got the goose in your hands, only for it to fly away!

“I wanted to buy a USB adaptor but I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I went on a wild goose chase all over the city looking for somewhere that might sell it!”.

“I went out and came back home without my wallet, so I went on a wild goose chase trying to visit all the places I went to the night before!”.

Like a needle in a haystack!

This is also used for when you are trying to find something, but this time we use it to describe a situation where something is nearly impossible to find. It literally means, “like looking for something very very small inside something very very big”.

“Can you try to find the name of that person from the reports in that folder?”

“No! There are 9000 names in that folder, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack”

Through thick and thin

We use this usually when talking about a person or friend who we have been with through difficult times.

“James and I, we’ve been through thick and thin together, so nothing can hurt our friendship now!”

Remember!

You don’t need to use all of these idioms in your IELTS speaking test! Using too many idioms is a big sign that you are not speaking naturally as a native speaker would. For this reason, we recommend aiming to use 2 or 3 idioms in a natural way during your IELTS speaking test.